That’s the whole point of Microsoft’s controller development. If you’re out of the loop, Project xCloud is a cloud gaming platform. It allows users to access and play Xbox One games on any device, including tablets and smartphones. That’s possible because all the performance resources are handled by Microsoft through cloud servers. For its special controller, the company is working on a detachable gamepad that connects to either portrait sides of a handheld device....

No updates mean not even for security patches, bug fixes and general tech support. It is worth noting users could choose to migrate to Office 2019 on-premises. However, it is clear Microsoft would prefer organizations to move to the subscription-based Office 365 ProPlus, which is calculated on a per-user basis. Microsoft’s reasoning for steering customers to ProPlus is that the service enjoys frequent updates. Office 2019 is a license platform that has the same features that it had at launch....

Back in March 2014, Redmond released MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0 source code to the Computer History Museum. For years later, the company now wants the platform to be more widely available. With that in mind, Microsoft has released MS-DOS on GitHub. In an announcement post, the company says it is re-open-sourcing the operating system. Of course, Microsoft is in the process of finalizing a $7.5 billion acquisition of GitHub. Now, MS-DOS is available to anyone who wants to use it....

Furthering the rebranding effort, the company has also taking the online name off individual apps. So, applications such as Word Online, PowerPoint Online, and Excel Online no longer have the Online tag attached to them. “Because our offerings have evolved to provide access to apps on more than one platform, it no longer makes sense to use any platform-specific sub-brands,” says Bill Doll, Office product marketing focusing on Office Online and the Office app....

The Personal Shopping Assistant started as a browser extension from Microsoft Garage. Available for Chrome, Opera, Edge, and Firefox, the app helps users shop online with their browser as they normally do. Products that users search for will automatically start appearing within the assistant, under Browsed. The Personal Shopping Assistant also allows users to save products they like to Favorites and get notified when their prices change. Here is a list of what the Personal Shopping Assistant offers:...

Twitter’s WalkingCat unearthed a PowerPoint presentation that details Microsoft’s reasoning behind the switch, as well as some under the hood details. One of those is a list of Google service Microsoft cut or replaced in its browser. The grand total of 52 cut services includes tools like Ad blocking, Translate, user data sync, and Google Now. However, it also gets rid of the search giant’s reporting tools, ensuring users don’t have to worry so much about their data going to Google....

You may remember in July the company replaced the installed Notepad app with the Microsoft Store version. The company reasoned this would allow it to update the app individually. As a Windows 10 native app, the built-in version only received updates alongside Windows feature releases. That’s only twice a year, so Microsoft’s reasoning for pushing the Notepad to the Store made sense. However, one downside to the switch was a lack of user uniformity....

Such a select target has led to conjecture about intentional slow down to penalize one of Microsoft’s competitors. However, in a statement on Hacker News today Edgar from the OneDrive team confirmed that the bug was accidental. “Hi everyone, this is Edgar from the OneDrive team. We know that some users may have experienced difficulty accessing OneDrive for Business on Linux. The issue was resolved as of Tue, March 22nd 3pm PST,” he wrote....

Windows 10 Preview build 19042.782 for Windows 10 20H2 Windows 10 Preview build 21296 for Windows 10 21H1 Before getting into the details of those builds, it’s worth noting Microsoft is also rolling out preview updates for Windows 10 1909 and 1809. However, these are stable build release that any body can get. Yes, build 19042.782 is also for a stable build (Windows 10 20H2), but it is currently only available to Insiders....

It is also worth noting this is one of Microsoft’s optional Windows 10 updates. As the name suggests, these are updates that users can choose to install or not… they are not automatically installed by Microsoft. Recently I have discussed why these optional updates should be avoided immediately after their release. They can often causes surprise problems in Windows 10. Optional updates focus on fixing non-critical or non-security bugs on the platform....

Azure Stack reached its third technical preview back in March. Over the preview timeframe, Microsoft says customers have shown huge interest in adopting the on-premises offering. At Microsoft Inspire this week, the company will connect Stack with more partners. As part of its announcement today, Microsoft is rolling out the following services to customers: Orderable Azure Stack integrated systems: We have delivered software to our hardware partners, enabling us to begin the certification process for their integrated systems, with the first systems to begin shipping in September....

1 Legal Battle2 Microsoft Hits Out Specifically, 114 of those questions were from Microsoft’s own information: “DoD provided AWS with detailed information regarding the strengths, weaknesses, and deficiencies of the Microsoft proposal, which is inconsistent with the DoD Source Selection Procedures Debriefing Guide.” Following the report, Microsoft’s Fran Shaw said the details show Microsoft’s acquirement of JEDI was legal. Legal Battle Microsoft’s winning of the JEDI contract has been just one step in a storied saga....

“Microsoft Classroom Pen 2 is optimized for use with Surface Go and Surface Pro and enables students of all ages to write and draw naturally on their screens via an improved design and longer enclosure,” Microsoft’s Lauren Ryland says in a blog post. “The durable pen tip is replaceable, and it’s easy to prevent loss with a built-in slot for a tether or the clip that attaches to Surface Type Covers....

He also clarified in the interview that Microsoft plans on keeping the Surface Pro 4 as a competitive product for five years. But this doesn’t mean a new Surface Pro device isn’t in the making. When asked about a fifth-gen Surface Pro, the Microsoft executive said that when it was “meaningful and the change is right, we’ll put it on market.” Commenting on what he means by meaningful change, he said that for Microsoft change isn’t only about processing power....

For .NET Core 2.2 Preview 2, Microsoft did not introduce much features to the package. However, the company has now made tiered compilation available. This was first introduced in .NET Core 2.1 and allows performance in steady-state and start-up environments. In version 2.1, Tiered Compilation was an optional choice. Microsoft wanted to continue testing while the service was in the wild. Previously, users would have to enable tiered compilation via application configuration or an environment variable....

According to security experts, testing showed the owner of the corp.com domain would be able to access a limitless supply of passwords, email data, and other information from Microsoft’s Windows PCs. This information would be accessible from individuals and major organizations alike. Microsoft Corp. says it decided to buy the domain to stop it being used by bad actors. Mike O’Connor has owned the corp.com domain for 26 years and has not really used it....

Specifically, Redmond is changing the names of the testing channels and creating a new one called the Public Preview channel. There are now three test channels for Teams “Insiders” to choose from: Beta, Private Preview, and Public Preview. Yes, Microsoft is obviously taking inspiration from its Windows and Office Insider Programs, as well as Microsoft Edge testing channels. Beta is for the earliest adopters, IT pros and admins who want to test bleeding edge features....

Microsoft expects the functionality to reach all users by mid-may, delivering a welcome addition for universities and large companies. Such huge calls aren’t common, but the addition does provide a selling point over competitors. Still, it’s not all about pure numbers. As it expands its service, Microsoft is putting safeguards in place to prevent notification spam. Past 20 users, features like Outlook replies, typing, indicators, and video and voice calling are disabled....

“Microsoft is fully committed to assisting the NHS at this incredibly challenging time. The use of Microsoft Teams will ensure the hardworking doctors, nurses and support staff across all NHS organisations have the collaboration tools they need to carry out their vital work,” said Cindy Rose, Microsoft UK CEO. “We are hugely appreciative of their ongoing efforts to tackle COVID-19 and will continue to provide support however best we can....

In its latest effort, the company is bringing games to Microsoft Teams. Available in both chats and video calling, Microsoft thinks games will bring some levity to meetings. Critics may say this is Microsoft simply adding a feature because it can, and this is one tool too much. After all, Teams is an enterprise communication and collaboration service. Either way, Microsoft will now allow users on Teams to use a new app known as Games for Work....